Assuming Control: A Normandy Horror Story
by FluffyCannibal
Summary: Your worst nightmares don't happen when you're sleeping. My entry for the October writing contest on Aria's Afterlife. M for language.


**A/N-** So...this definitely did not turn out anywhere _near_ as cool as it was in my head, but I somehow managed to write the last three-quarters of it in about 12 hours-ish, so I'm still feeling pretty proud of myself. I'll probably re-write this at some point to make up for my terribadness. Which I apologise for in advance.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, Bioware or EA. Which, trust me, you should all be very thankful for.**

* * *

_I'm running through the woods, the wind in my face carrying with it the stench of death; of burnt, rotten corpses. I see the pillars of smoke, I hear them whispering in the voices of a thousand dead souls. I catch up to the Child…but it's too late. Again. He's burning already; I see His eyes melt and fall down His face. I see the skin on His cheeks rot away before my very eyes. I hear every bone in His body break, like the fragile twigs caught under my feet while I ran. I want to turn away but I can't. Instead I'm forced to watch Him, young and innocent, die before me while I acknowledge the fact that I could have saved Him but didn't. I'm too late. I'm always too late-_

Jane Shepard awoke from her nightmare. It was the same every night; she would have the nightmare, then wake up alone in her cabin, the blankets from her bed twisted and falling off of her. Her face would be buried in her pillow, her pyjamas soaked in sweat, the guilt and shame brought on by her dreams starting to bubble over and threatening to consume her….always the same. Admittedly it had been worse over the last few nights though, since the last time they had left the Citadel. The whole crew had been anxious and on edge since then; Shepard put it down to them knowing that it could well be the last time they ever visit the giant space station. Jane lifted her head and rolled over, expecting to see the familiar blue glow produced by her fish tanks, but today it was different. The entire cabin was pitch black; no emergency lighting, no light of any kind. Jane sat up and blindly put her hand out to reach for her omni-tool on her bedside table when she was interrupted by a familiar voice.

**"Shepard. We have assumed control of your ship. You should have known that you cannot outrun your destiny. We are infinite. We are eternal. You have failed."**

"Very funny, Joker. Great Harbinger impression. Now cut this crap and turn the lights back on!" Jane hated to admit it, but hearing _that_ voice, of all voices, in the dark confinement of her cabin had scared her a little. Joker, EDI, whoever was behind this prank had apparently achieved their goal.

**"Your ignorance never ceases. We will tear you apart, Shepard, like the vermin that you are."**

Refusing to show her fear in any way, Shepard continued to feel in the dark for her omni-tool. Locating it, she switched it on and turned on the light app, casting a small haze of blue-white light across the room.

**"We will drag your race to a higher plane of existence whether it wants to ascend or not. We cannot be stopped."**

Shepard rolled her eyes as she heard the elevator arrive on her floor and a few seconds later the door to her room opened. Bracing herself for the predictable – whichever mischievous member of the squad responsible for this bursting through the door, probably wearing a stupid mask of some sort – and she was right. Staff Chief David, normally found pacing in circles around the ship's CIC or Crew Deck, was walking into Jane's cabin. The skin on his cheeks was greying, his eyes were glowing blue like the hordes of husks Shepard had killed over the last three years; the man looked like he had been indoctrinated.

**"This was inevitable, Shepard. You cannot prevent us from achieving our goals."**

"Seriously, I order you to stop this bullshit _right now_!" Jane commanded, her voice breaking a little. Chief David was still moving towards her, his head at a strange angle like zombies in old horror movies. He was just a few feet away now and Shepard couldn't help but admire the expertise that had gone into his make-up; whoever had done it was obviously a talented artist.

**"We do not take orders from you. Goodbye, Shepard."**

"What the hell!" David launched himself at Shepard, jumping on top of her and trying to tear her apart with his bare hands. "Get off me! Stop this before I hurt you!" Jane didn't want to harm the Chief but he had taken things too far- he was digging his hands into her flesh and genuinely wounding her. She had no choice but to use her biotic abilities to throw the man off of her, then walked over to where he landed and turning him around, hit him on the back of the head as hard as she could. David was knocked out cold.

Shepard turned back around, furious at the prank which had gone too far and reached for her omni-tool again. There was a loud crash from downstairs on the ship and then the omni-tool lit up with an incoming call from Kaidan.

"Shepard, I don't know what the hell's going on, but EDI just went haywire. I had to shut her down, she'd set a course straight for a black hole and wouldn't respond to my overrides" Kaidan sounded stressed and breathless.

"The secret to a good prank is knowing when to stop, Major" Shepard was losing her patience.

"What…? This isn't a prank, Jane, but I wish to God it was."

"Are you being serious?" Shepard could feel a sense of dread rising inside of her.

"I swear on Ashley's grave, Shepard. I…I don't know what could have happened" Kaidan responded.

Shepard knew that Kaidan would never – _never_ – use what happened on Virmire to prove a point unless he was deadly serious, "I apparently just had Harbinger talking to me through the intercom, and then Officer David…" Jane's voice trailed off while she reached down to the unconscious officer and turned him over to inspect the make-up on his face. She attempted to peel it off and then realised it wasn't make-up at all. The man truly had been indoctrinated. "Oh shit…Kaidan! He's…he's a husk. Oh God no" Shepard felt bile begin to rise in her throat. "Grab Joker and get everyone to meet me in the mess hall."

"I…I can't Shepard. Joker's…I went to the cockpit when the lights went out to see what was going on and EDI…"

"EDI what? This isn't a fucking game, marine!" Shepard shouted at her former Lieutenant.

"Joker's dead, Shepard. EDI killed him."

Shepard didn't have time to process the horrifying information before Chief David awoke and lunged for her again. Without thinking, Shepard hit him with the full force of her biotics, smashing him into the wall of her cabin and snapping his spine. He died with his mutilated blue eyes staring straight into Shepard's.

* * *

Shepard stood in the mess hall with her squad and the Normandy's night-shift 'skeleton crew', staring at the mutilated remains of Joker's corpse which had been carried down from the cock-pit. It had been twenty minutes since her conversation with Kaidan and she still couldn't accept that this was real. Joker was her friend – one of her best friends – and here he was…cold, lifeless, killed by someone he loved. But Jane had to force herself to snap back to reality because the ship had far more pressing issues at hand.

"Tali, can we get the ship running again?" Jane asked of her quarian squad member. Since Kaidan had shut EDI down the ship had been drifting along through the dark space between solar systems.

"Umm…well, no, I don't think so," Tali looked down at her hands, nervously wringing them together while she spoke. "Engineer Adams is downstairs running more diagnostics, but it looks like EDI sabotaged most of the main drives when she…went rogue. The primary generators are fried, the drive core overloaded; this will take days to repair and the back-up generators won't last that long – EDI drained most of their power. It looks like the QEC is fried too so we can't even put an SOS signal out. We're stuck, Shepard."

"Do the Reapers know where we are?" Shepard asked nobody in particular.

"It's safe to assume so," Kaidan was the first to reply. "But before the systems shut down, the closest Reaper signatures detected were 70 light years away. That's a 3 day flight even for a Reaper, and our power sources won't last that long. Besides that, the kinetic barriers are down. Though we're unlikely to encounter much debris out here, if we do then it will tear the hull apart and we'll be dead in seconds." The Major had a stronger character than anyone Jane had ever known, and even he was beginning to panic; she could hear it in his voice.

"Garrus," Shepard addressed the former C-Sec officer on board. "Are the weapons systems still working?"

"No, but I can change that. I can have them disconnected from EDI's drives and synced up to manual controls pretty quickly. I'll need some help, though." Garrus replied.

"Ok. Tali, I want you and the engineers to get the QEC running. Garrus, take James and Javik and get the weapons systems working. Kaidan, get Cortez and take a look at the main generators, see if anything can be done to get them powered up again and then _fix the barriers_. Chakwas, see to…see to Joker. Liara, you're with me. We'll grab some of the crew and start running more diagnostics to find out what the hell is going on. The rest of you wait here until Liara and I return" Shepard gave orders to her squad then walked across the room to where Liara was stood, waiting for her.

"Shepard, I've already set Glyph to scan through as much of EDI as he can to find the root of the problem. What do you think could have happened?" the peaceful but powerful asari asked of her Commander.

"I really don't know, and I'm having trouble taking this all in," Shepard let Liara take the lead as they arrived at the crew quarters. "We need to focus on getting as many systems running as we can and then work from there."

As Shepard finished talking, Liara opened the door to the crew quarters, stepped inside and then stumbled straight back out again. "By the Goddess…" she murmured.

Shepard shoved Liara aside and then strode into the room herself to investigate what could have caused such a reaction from her friend. She was greeted by a sight reminiscent of when the _Normandy SR-1_ had been attacked, only this was worse. The bodies of her crew were strewn around the room; some on the bunks, some on the floor. They all appeared to have bled profusely from the ears, nose, mouth – even their eyes – there was vomit everywhere and from what Shepard could see of them, their skin was covered in bruises, blisters and lesions. Judging from the state of the room – bed linen and private possessions strewn everywhere – those who hadn't been lucky enough to die in their sleep hadn't exactly died in peace; these people – Jane's people – had died terrified and panicking. Shepard looked down and realised that Samantha Traynor, lying at her feet, was still alive. She stooped down to help her friend and colleague, but was instantly pulled back by Liara.

"Don't touch them Shepard, whatever did this – it could be contagious."

Shepard begrudgingly took a step back from Samantha and crouched to take a closer look at her dying friend. Blood from her eyes was trickling down her face. Her left cheek and temple were swollen and bruised, her nose was a mass of puss-filled blisters. She reached out to Shepard, causing the Commander to take a knee-jerk step backwards, and Jane noticed blood leaking from open lesions all over Samantha's hand.

"Shep-" Traynor tried to talk, but struggled to make a syllable before a mixture of blood and vomit erupted from her mouth. She spluttered, gasping for air, then began to choke. Shepard reached towards her, to try to save her life, but was pulled back by Liara.

"No Shepard, you can't. I'm sorry but it's not worth it" the asari said urgently. Deep down inside, Shepard knew that Liara was right and didn't resist while she was pulled away. Traynor lay on the floor choking and convulsing for what Shepard felt was an eternity but was more likely only a minute at the most. Eventually she slumped against the cold, hard floor, the second of Shepard's crew to die in front of her, on her own ship, in half an hour. After a long moment of silence, Liara spoke again, "I'm sorry Shep…Jane. She was loved by us all."

Before Shepard had figured out a response, Glyph came floating into the room. "Dr. T'Soni! I have information relating to the sabotage of the ship. May I present it to you?" the drone bounced slightly whilst it spoke.

Finding her voice again, Shepard spoke flatly, "You can 'present' it out in the mess hall. Let's get out of here." She signalled for Liara and Glyph to exit the room then stepped out behind them and taking once last look at the chaos within, locked the door. She pulled aside two of the few crew members who hadn't been in the quarters when everyone was apparently slaughtered, and ordered them to guard the door and not let anyone through under any circumstances.

Shepard stepped back into the mess hall where Liara, Glyph and maybe eight members of the crew were waiting for her. Glyph began to repeat his findings as soon as she arrived.

"I have scanned the inactive AI core of EDI and found pertinent information. It appears that last night, Officer David snuck into EDI's core during the night shift and uploaded some form of virus. This in turn appears to have given control of EDI and the Normandy to the Reapers. Shortly before performing this, David administered some form of liquid to each of the sleeping crew-members.

"So David poisoned the crew?" Shepard enquired.

"Wait," one of the crew members – Shepard recognised him as Private Constantine from the War Room – spoke up nervously, "The rest of the crew is _dead_?"

"I'm sorry, but yes. It's…it's slaughter in there," Shepard said, gesturing to the crew quarters, then took a deep breath, "But there's nothing we can do to help them now. Right now, our main priority should be getting the ship's systems running. Stay here and keep running diagnostics."

"Right, Garrus; are the weapons systems working again?" Shepard had reconvened everyone back in the mess hall a few hours later for an update on the repair status of the ship.

"Yes, Commander, all under manual control" Garrus replied.

"Good. Cortez; generators and barriers?"

"The main generators will take days to repair with the parts we have on the ship; we don't have that much time. The barriers are semi-functional but if we turn them on then they'll drain the back-up generators very quickly. No power means no oxygen recycling- we'll suffocate."

"Not good. Liara; diagnostic report?"

"Not much more to say, Commander. We'll need outside help before we can even think about trying to use the engines. We've scanned as much surveillance footage as we can and I've determined that Officer David was acting alone when he did this."

"Ok. Tali; communications?"

"We've repaired enough to emit a basic SOS signal but…we're potentially light years away from the nearest ships, we're in a part of space where no-one usually comes. The kind of power we need to fuel that kind of signal will drain the generators."

"Right. If we run the SOS signal, how long will the generators last?"

"Around one day-cycle"

"And it will take at least one and a half for anyone to reach us…ok, Kaidan; if we cut power to everywhere on the ship but this room and only use basic heat, light and oxygen systems, how long will the generators last?"

"Three and a half, maybe four days, Commander"

"Tali, take whoever you need and get the SOS signal running, and set the comm systems to send an alert to my omni-tool if any communications are received. Kaidan, once Tali is finished I want you to take anyone you need and shut off the power to everywhere except the comms system, LADAR,

mess hall, med-bay and men's bathrooms – ladies, you'll just have to share. Everyone else, get ready to bunk down in here for the next few days."

"Shepard, may I have a word please? It's very important" –Chakwas

"What is it?" Shepard

"I had Glyph run some tests on our…departed crew members. I can't be sure of the results given Glyph's limited testing abilities, but…" Chakwas appeared hesitant to go on. "It looks like they were killed with a genetically mutated and very powerful form of the ebola virus."

"Wait, _what_?" Shepard sputtered in disbelief "You're telling me my crew just died of _ebola_?!"

"As far as I can tell, yes. But it's different, Shepard. Ebola takes several days to kill, but this version could only have taken maybe two hours at the most; I've never seen anything like it. We can't let _anyone_ into the crew quarters. If it _is_ ebola then it's only contagious through bodily fluids but it is certainly _not_ a virus you want to take any risks with."

* * *

By what should have been the beginning of the ship's morning cycle everyone was bunkered down in the Mess Hall. It was cramped to say the least but it increased their chances of making it out alive which meant it was worth it. Shepard could taste the nervousness, unease and discomfort lying in the air like a haze on a hot summer's morning; it was hardly surprising, even Shepard herself couldn't shake off a certain sense of dread. '_Tastes like blood'_ Shepard absent-mindedly thought to herself before she had to snap out of it.

"Because I'm your superior and I'm telling you not to!" someone shouted from across the room, in the kitchen area.

"What's gotten into you?!" another voice yelled back. Shepard looked to the source of the commotion and saw two crew members staring each other down.

"What's going on here?" Shepard demanded as she walked towards the men.

"Serviceman Lindqvist was messing with the food supplies!" one of the two replied, never moving his eyes from the man he was accusing.

"I wasn't 'messing' with anything," Lindqvist defended himself. "Serviceman Sato here is just paranoid. He has been for days."

"Paranoid? Maybe I've got a good reason to be, how do I know you aren't in this with David?" Sato raised his voice and had an almost violent look on his face.

"**Enough!**" Shepard shouted "Both of you! Look, I know we're in a terrible situation, but we're all stuck in it together. Now get yourselves together, sort this out _together_ and keep your mouths shut. That's an order!" Shepard made sure to look both men straight in the eye – a tactic that she knew from experience would emphasise her point. She then turned on her heel and pushed her way through the surrounding people and went to sit alone in a corner where she could keep an eye on everyone. This was going to be a long few days.

* * *

_I reach my arm towards Him and He lifts his head to look at me. His eyes erupt into fire and His mouth opens to speak, "You can't save me, Shepard". All at once, the voices of the spirits surrounding us begin to chant like a choir of the dead, "You couldn't save us Shepard". Over and over again I hear them repeat that line, while staring into the face of the Child. Blood pours from His eyes, His lips melt away…the voices are screaming at me…_

_I'm always too late_

Shepard awoke with a jump; her nightmares had become more and more vivid over the past week, more gruesome as the stress of the war bore down on her – bore down on everyone. However, she soon realised that was not the reason why she had woken so suddenly.

A few feet from Shepard, two crew members were tussling over some small object, a piece of paper from what she could see. With a sigh Shepard rose herself from the chair she had been sleeping in and dragged herself towards them to address the issue.

"Jones, Al-Shahib, problem?" Shepard was too tired to use ranks or full sentences.

"She stole my picture of my wife-" the two replied virtually in unison, stopping abruptly to stare at each other in anger.

"Hold on," Shepard took a moment to press her palm to her forehead in disbelief before continuing, "Serviceman Jones; you say Private Al-Shahib has stolen your property?" Jones nodded in response. "And this would be a picture of your wife?"

"Yes ma'am. I carry it in my pocket, it's from our honeymoon on Illium; we took it on the shore of the Aurora Seas" Jones replied.

"Do you remember the conversation you had with me two weeks ago right over there in the kitchen?" Shepard asked.

"No…no I don't Commander" Jones looked confused when she responded.

"You told me about your husband, Jones. You showed me a picture of the two of you on your omni-tool. I don't know what the hell you're trying to pull here, but this is bad enough without your crap making it worse. Now go back to sleep!" Shepard left the two crew members and returned to her seat. She knew that Serviceman Jones was one of the youngest aboard the ship and probably more scared than most, but it didn't come close to justifying that sort of absurd behaviour. Just as Shepard sat down and began to close her eyes, she heard a familiar voice whisper her name into her ear. Opening her eyes and turning to the side, she saw Garrus crouching next to her. "Whaddo-you-want?" Shepard mumbled, slurring her words together. Although she was used to very little sleep, she felt like she hadn't slept in an eternity.

"A word, please? Could be important" Garrus murmured, apparently careful not to disturb the resting crew.

Shepard nodded curtly and led Garrus out of the crowded space and towards the ship's memorial wall, something Shepard instantly regretted considering the nightmare she'd just had; many of the names on the wall belonged to the spirits who taunted her while she slept.

"Shepard," Garrus spoke quietly, "This…what's happening with the crew. We've seen this before; the Cerberus crew on board the dead reaper. We're being indoctrinated."

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Shepard had already begun to suspect that indoctrination was at play here, but only now that someone else had mentioned it did she begin to take those suspicions seriously.

"As far as we know this could only happen with Reaper tech on the ship," Garrus continued after a moment, "And although I haven't seen any…what did you call them? Weird alien impaling devices? …lying around, for all we know, David could have smuggled some kind of Reaper tech on board as part of the sabotage. We need to start searching for it."

* * *

"We've searched as much as we can, but all logs relating to Officer David in the last few weeks are…incomplete. It looks like they were purposely deleted. But it would help if you would actually tell us what we're looking for" Tali said. Shepard had woken her up shortly after her conversation with Garrus.

"Ok…I'm gonna need a manual search of the ship, then. Teams of three, working in rotation; one room at a time. Start with the engine room" Shepard ordered.

"And exactly **what** are we looking for, Jane?" Tali sounded exasperated, and although Shepard couldn't know for sure with Tali's mask in the way, she could swear that Tali was clenching her teeth while she spoke.

"Anything that looks like it doesn't belong" Shepard replied. In reality, the search was for Reaper tech that may have been smuggled onto the ship, but given that she couldn't be sure of who was or wasn't indoctrinated, Shepard thought it best not to be clear about what the search was for. The last thing she needed was for someone to sabotage the search.

"You do realise that you're asking me to search an _entire_ ship for something that I probably wouldn't recognise even if I somehow got lucky enough to find it?!" Tali exclaimed.

"Just follow your orders!" Shepard barked back, then walked away.

* * *

"Ok everyone, grub's up. One protein bar and five crackers each, no exceptions." Shepard announced to the mess hall. It had now been eighteen hours since the…event…and the stress was certainly taking hold of the crew. The commander hoped that giving them a meal, or at least the closest to a meal that she could provide, would lighten the mood a little. Tali and two crew members were still downstairs searching the Engine Room, but they could eat when they came back.

"Out of my way," Shepard heard Garrus mutter and looked up to see him uncharacteristically shoving others out of his way to get to the kitchen counter. "Where are the dextro supplies?" he said to no one in particular, looking around the small kitchen.

"They must be…uh," Kaidan said and began to search through the various cupboards and crates scattered around. "Uh…I can't see them…I must have forgotten in the rush, I'm sorry…" the Major trailed off.

"You _forgot_?! Trying to starve me are you? Wasn't Vyrnnus enough for you? Gotta kill another turian on the sly?" Garrus growled.

"What?! No, of course not, it just slipped my mind in the rush" Kaidan replied, raising his hands in a gesture of peace and slowly backing away from the furious turian.

"Of course it did," Garrus replied sarcastically with a look on his face that suggested he was about to kill Kaidan. "I'm not entirely sure you're innocent in all of this, you know. It _was_ you who shut EDI down after all."

"Are you seriously suggesting that I was involved in sabotaging the ship?!" Kaidan sounded angry, something that was very rare for the soft-spoken Major.

"I'm not suggesting anything, I'm accusing you. Not very smart for a SpecTRe, are you?" Garrus roared, momentarily reminding Shepard of Saren.

"Actually, he's right," the unfortunately named Corporal Punishment chimed in. "If the Major here hadn't shut EDI off then we could have just flown out of here and got help."

Various others around the room began to nod and murmur in agreement, and Shepard could barely believe what was happening; Kaidan was a good friend and probably the most loyal person she had ever met. There was no way he could have had anything to do with this, she had to speak up, "EDI was flying us into a black hole. Kaidan had no choice. I know that you're all scared and-"

"Nobody else saw that Shepard; we only 'know' because it's what _he_ told us" Garrus interrupted while staring down Kaidan.

"And it's the truth!" Kaidan shouted back. He took a fighting stance and his body began to glow blue with biotic energy.

"No! You're a traitor. It's your fault we're in this. I say we throw him into the Crew Quarters and leave him there!" Corporal Punishment announced.

"WHAT?! No, stand down!" Shepard yelled, but it was too late. Garrus and Punishment moved towards Kaidan. The major prepared to throw a biotic attack at the pair, but Garrus stunned him with an overload first then wrestled him to the ground. Shepard moved to help her friend, but Chief Ramone and Chief Kudowitz from the War Room grabbed her and held her back while Garrus hit her with an overload, stunning her too.

"I'm sorry Shepard, but it's the only way" Garrus said to her. Shepard caught his eye for a moment and saw an emptiness she'd never seen before; it was as if her friend were hollow, devoid of everything, and it chilled her to the bone. Ramone and Kudowitz then held Shepard in place while Garrus, Punishment and to Shepard's horror, Vega, carried the Major out to the corridor and began to open the door to the Crew Quarters, containing the bodies of the dead, poisoned crew.

Doctor Chakwas then rushed forward and grabbed Garrus by the shoulders, spinning him around, "You can't! The bodies are contagious, he'll die in there!" she exclaimed.

"We know doctor, that's the point!" Punishment replied in a voice devoid of all emotion while repeatedly thumping the struggling Major on the head, knocking him out cold. Garrus turned back to the door and continued unlocking it.

Shepard seized her final opportunity to save her friend; she allowed her body to go limp for a moment, then unleashed all the biotic energy she could, knocking Ramone and Kudowitz clear across the room. Scrambling to her feet, she sprinted the few feet to the door of the Crew Quarters. Shepard raised her arm to stop Garrus' attempts at opening the door, but Chakwas beat her to it. The aging doctor grabbed the turian by the chest and tried to pull him backwards. Garrus then turned with a roar and, talons extended, swiped Chakwas in the chest. Chakwas fell backwards and slumped to the ground, hitting her head as she fell. Her clothing had been torn open by Garrus' talons and blood was beginning to pour from deep cuts across her chest. Shepard stalled, shocked by what had happened just as Garrus finally unlocked the door. Taking advantage of Shepard's momentary lack of concentration, Garrus, Vega and Punishment threw Kaidan into the Crew Quarters and quickly closed the door behind him.

"No!" Shepard screamed, regaining her focus, "Kaidan, if you can hear me, stay away from the bodies! Somebody help Chakwas!" The commander switched her focus to Garrus, "What the hell have you done?!"

"My job Shepard!" the turian growled back.

Shepard made a move to re-open the door and rescue the major, but Vega grabbed hold of her and tried to pull her back. Just as she prepared to fight back, she felt Vega being pulled off her. Turning, she saw Javik striding towards her, glowing with biotic energy; he was apparently her rescuer. Javik attacked Corporal Punishment with a biotic slam and then used his abilities to suspend Garrus in the air, helpless.

"These men have been indoctrinated, Shepard. We must dispose of them" the prothean announced.

"There will be no more disposing of _anyone_ on this ship! Someone get here and help me get Kaidan out!" Shepard shouted furiously.

"**No!**" Javik replied defiantly, "I know the signs Shepard, and there is no saving these men."

"He's right, Shepard" Liara said calmly, stepping through the mess hall while two members of the watching crowd dragged Chakwas' unconscious form back. "I'm so sorry, but look at him; is that really the Garrus we know?"

Shepard turned toward Garrus and looked through the green haze of Javik's biotic energy and into her companion's eyes. She was met again by that dull stare, a blank nothingness. She knew she was looking at Garrus but all she could see was Saren – an indoctrinated turian.

"We could…we could shut them in Life Support. Keep them there until help arrives" Shepard said slowly but surely.

"And keep indoctrinated men on the ship? Foolish, besides the fact that it would use up precious energy that we are in no position to spare. We throw them out the airlock" Javik announced.

"**You are not throwing anyone out of anything and that is an order!**" Shepard instantly replied.

"He's right Shepard" Cortez spoke up, and moved forward with Liara, "Nobody on this ship knows Vega better than me and that…that's not him. It may look like him, but it's not."

"I am _ordering_ you to stand down, Lieutenant. Those are my men!" Shepard sputtered in disbelief.

"Shepard, _that is not Garrus_. Would you keep Saren on the ship under these – or any – conditions?" Liara replied, then pulled out her omni-tool. "Javik, I'm switching the elevator back on. Garrus…if you can hear me…I'm so sorry."

Shepard moved forward, ready to position herself between Garrus and Javik and stop what was happening, but Liara turned and trapped Shepard in a stasis field.

"I'm sorry Shepard, but you're not thinking clearly. This has to be done" the asari said quietly while avoiding eye contact. The elevator opened and Liara and Javik used their biotic abilities to move Garrus, the unconscious Vega and presumably already-dead Corporal Punishment into it. Javik announced that he would "oversee this personally," then stepped into the elevator and closed the door behind him. Cortez quickly followed and Shepard was forced to watch helplessly while yet more of her friends were dragged to their deaths by people they thought they could trust.

"Javik, can you hear me in there?" Liara spoke into her omni-tool, which Shepard could see was generating a holographic screen displaying live vid footage of the inside of the elevator.

_"Yes. We are arriving at the command deck"_ Javik's voice replied over the comm.

"I'm powering the floor back on…you should be able to leave any time…now" Liara's omni-tool switched to a view of the CIC.

_"I'll carry Vega. You take those two"_ Cortez said to Javik. Shepard watched the dim glow of the hologram, feeling sick and so, _so_ helpless.

"The airlock is on" Liara flatly announced. Shepard was sure that Liara's eyes were growing dark, like the hordes of screaming banshees they disposed of on a daily basis.

Cortez and Javik had arrived at the entrance to the airlock. Vega was thrown in first, followed by Punishment. Garrus was still suspended mid-air, growling and spitting, by Javik's biotics. The field faltered for a moment while Javik tried to summon the strength to throw the turian in, and Garrus seized his opportunity; he launched himself at Cortez with an unnatural roar and began pounding at the lieutenant. Javik lunged towards Garrus to pull him away but was met with a strong turian elbow hitting him in the face. Cortez took the chance to fight back and when Javik regained his composure a few seconds later, the two of them made a joint effort to wrestle Garrus into the airlock.

"Watch out!" Liara exclaimed, referring to Vega who was beginning to regain consciousness in the corner of the screen. The hulk of a man heaved himself onto his feet and swung a powerful fist at Javik. The prothean, heeding Liara's warning, dutifully ducked and turned but Garrus made a move for the bridge. As quick as a flash, Javik had hit the panel on the wall to close the door to the airlock, sealing them all inside.

_"Open the outside of the airlock, asari"_ Javik yelled while ducking punches from the rabid beasts resembling Garrus and Vega.

"But you and Steve will die!" Liara hurriedly replied.

_"It's the only way,"_ Steve said, momentarily interrupted by a right-hook from Vega. _"Just do it!"_

Liara hesitated for a moment, "May the Goddess bring you peace," she spoke softly, then very carefully pushed a few buttons on her omni-tool. "Goodbye"

The vid showed the airlock's outer door open and Shepard watched the vacuum of space crush her men to death; she didn't have the fortune to look away like Liara did. Liara pushed some more buttons on the holographic interface of her omni-tool, and then the screen collapsed and the lights on the elevator door that she was still stood next to turned off. It was over.

"Shepard," the asari said, meekly looking her commander in the eye, "I'm going to let you out now, ok? I'm sorry, but we had to do it. Please remember that Javik and Steve just gave their lives _willingly_ to save us."

The stasis bubble surrounding Shepard vanished and she fell to her knees. Without looking up, she spoke through gritted teeth, "What. Have. You. **Done?!**"

"Please, Shepard. They would have killed us all. You're not thinking clearly" replied Liara.

"How is Chakwas?" Shepard was met with silence. "I will only ask one more time; How, is, Chakwas?"

Serviceman Sato spoke up, "She's…not good, Commander. She's out cold and she's lost blood, but we don't know what to do…she and Kaidan are the only ones who could treat her…" Sato trailed off.

"Kaidan!" Shepard suddenly bolted upright and dashed the few feet to the Crew Quarter's entrance and thumped on the door, "Can you hear me?"

There was some muffled groaning and shuffling from the other side of the door and then Kaidan spoke; "Shepard? I…it's dark" the Major was obviously confused.

"Don't move Kaidan, I'm opening the door" Shepard said while hacking the door.

It opened to reveal the sheer carnage from earlier, with one new addition; Major Alenko crouched on the floor, dazed, confused and covered in blood. Looking up, he began to stand instantly causing Shepard to reel backwards.

"Garrus, the Corporal…" Kaidan murmured, looking back and forth between the blood on his arms and the Commander.

"They're gone Kaidan, they're…dealt with," Shepard sighed, then furrowed her brow and gestured toward the red stains covering his clothes, "Is that your blood?"

"I, uh, I can't be sure. Oh God, Shepard. I'm going to die aren't I?" Kaidan asked.

"We can't be sure, we could-"

"Shepard," Liara interrupted, "Be careful. We are in no position to take any more risks"

"Wait!" Shepard glared at the asari, "We can put Kaidan in isolation in Life Support. If he is infected, he can't pass it on, but if he isn't then he'll be fine. It's a hell of a lot better than just leaving him there to die!"

"Ok Commander, if you're sure" Liara quietly replied, then pulled out her omni-tool and set about powering the Life Support room back up.

"Kaidan," Shepard turned back to the Major, "Me and Liara are gonna step back, then I want you to walk straight into Life Support, ok?"

"Yes Comm-" Kaidan began, then suddenly heaved and spluttered mid-sentence. He lost his balance and fell to his knees, bowing his head enough for Shepard to see the blisters forming on the back of his neck.

"No…no-no-no-no" Shepard repeated to herself, staggering backwards in shock. Kaidan had been infected.

"It's," Kaidan tried to talk, but only succeeded in coughing up blood, "I've got it. Leave me, Shepard."

"No! I've lost too many people, this could…you're just concussed. This is only because of the Corporal hitting you like that…" Shepard trailed off.

"No Shepard," Liara spoke up. "He's gone. I'm sorry Kaidan, but we have to protect ourselves."

Kaidan grimaced, then raised himself to his feet and gave the best salute he could muster, "It's been a pleasure, Shepard...Jane."

"Goodbye Kaidan" Shepard whispered, and then closed the door, sealing her friend's fate.

* * *

_"Shepard…what the hell's going on up there?"_

Shepard had been sat next to the Crew Quarters door for…days, weeks…years? An eternity spent listening to Kaidan die. The others, she couldn't remember who, had tried to drag her away, but she wouldn't. Couldn't. This was her fault; she was the Commander, she was the one in charge. She's the hero that makes the monsters go away, she should at least be able to save her own ship. But now she was forced out of her trance-like state by a quarian accent calling her through her omni-tool. Slowly lifting her arm, she responded flatly, "Tali."

_"I've been trying to get hold of you for an hour, Shepard! I'm, well, I _was_ down here with Lieutenant Steele and Chief Ramone. We were sorting through the Engine Room, like you said and I found something…odd. I was sure it didn't belong. Before I had a chance to inspect it properly, Ramone came up behind me and snatched it right out of my hand. I tried to get it back but the bosh'tet punched me and…he and Steele are sat there, right now, in the middle of the Engine Room holding some sort of…_Niem A'vae…_it's an old quarian ritual, like a kind of prayer ceremony. I crawled down to the sub-deck to get out of there, but I need help."_

Shepard took a moment to process the information before issuing orders, "Liara," She called across to the Mess Hall, "Seal the inner doors to the Engine Room," Turning back to her omni-tool, "Tali, get to the elevator as quickly and quietly as you can, then come back up here."

_"But what about _them_, Shepard?"_

"Don't worry, Tali. Just get back here," Shepard switched off the comm and then stared blankly into space for the few minutes it took Tali to return. Sure enough, the door eventually opened to reveal the quarian's suit-clad figure.

"Keelah, Shepard, what took you so long?" Tali demanded.

"There was an incident. Garrus, Javik, Steve, Vega and one of the Corporals are dead-" Shepard flatly explained until she was interrupted by the sound of Kaidan's death-throes.

"What was that?!" Tali exclaimed, looking around for the source of the noise.

"That would be Kaidan. Dying" Shepard replied in the same dull tone.

"What?! But…how?!" Tali uttered in disbelief.

"Garrus, Vega and Punishment threw him in there and he became infected. Javik and Steve then tried to throw the three of them out of the airlock and ended up going out of it too. If you want more details, ask Liara" Shepard couldn't be bothered with talking anymore, 'Or living' she thought to herself. Shocked at the thought which had tumbled out of nowhere, Shepard pulled herself to her feet and carried herself into the Mess Hall. She felt the eyes of the people in the room boring into her while she poured herself a glass of water. 'Not enough people' she thought. 'Too many people' her brain replied. Shaking her head and putting it down to stress and lack of sleep, she strode towards one of the make-shift beds on the floor, called across to Liara that she was in charge for the time being and leaving clear instructions to be woken if any external comms were received, then lay down for a nap.

* * *

_I'm running through the woods. He is here; He is _always_ here. I see Him ahead of me, crouched in the dirt. I slow as I approach him; I watch the pillars of smoke flock to him. I hear them as they pass me, whispering my name. I reach Him, I extend my hand. He looks up at me, His eyes…Oh God, His eyes. They burn and blister and melt away and I brace myself for what always comes next; His tiny, fragile body will erupt into flames and I will watch Him melt and turn to ash. _

_But this time is different. Instead He stands, and the pillars move, turning towards me. They're clearer now than they've ever been; they turn to the bodies of the spirits they represent. _

_Ashley_

_Kaidan_

_Jenkins_

_Garrus_

_Mordin_

_Joker_

_Chakwas_

_Thane_

_Vega_

_Cortez_

_Javik_

_The ones I lost. The ones I failed. There are many more behind them, _so many_ more. They talk to me:_

_'Why Shepard?'_

_'You left us to die'_

_'You failed us Jane'_

_'We trusted you and you threw our lives away'_

_The voices merge into one long indecipherable noise. There are hundreds of them, thousands, as far as the eye can see; men, women, children, human, alien, they're all here._

_Suddenly they begin to chant as one:_

_'You killed us Shepard. Murderer. Murderer'_

_They repeat that word over and over and over again, it consumes me, it shakes my very soul. I can't feel in this place; not like I should. But I…I know that I'm cold. I think._

_ Just as the deathly chorus is about to overwhelm me it stops, and all I can hear is silence._

_Then He speaks, 'You couldn't save us Shepard. You failed.'_

_A bright light appears in the sky. It blinds me at first, a brilliant white among the darkness of the hell my subconscious has created for me. Then my eyes regain focus and I see the Child smile at me; a deathly grimace across the mask of death that is his face. The spirits…so many spirits…they walk into the light, whispering my name, until only He and I remain. I'm forced closer to Him until I'm mere _

_inches away. Then it finally happens. His body erupts into flames, every fragile bone breaks, and His eyes begin to glow, burning with the fury of every sun in the galaxy. He speaks His final words to me,_

_'You don't belong. You failed, and you will remain until you succeed'_

_He moves towards the light…or does the light move to Him? It consumes Him and I am alone._

_But not for long._

* * *

_The forest has changed. I know what it is now. It is the representation of blood and steel; of a civilisation that shouldn't exist. There are creatures here…they are wrong. They are the ones that I must stop, I see that now. They are the reason for my failure, they are the monstrosities, the reason for the cycle, the reason for the harvest. They are the Reapers._

_I move through the steel forest and attack the first of my prey. They deserve to suffer for their sins, but I will show this one mercy; I snap it's neck and kill it instantly. _

_I move on to the next. It has seen me coming and it tries to stop me, but I _must_ fulfil my purpose. I break it's arm to stop it from struggling, and then I choke the life out of it._

_Another comes toward me. This one is…different. Smells different. It speaks but I do not listen. The Reapers cannot be listened to; they will twist you, they will make you believe things that simply can't be true. I kill it._

_Two more try to ambush me. I think I'll have some fun with these…play dead…and when they move in for the kill…I strike. I hit one too hard, it falls, it breaks…so easily. The other is stronger, but it too falls. They will all fall. I will walk this plane until every last Reaper has gone._

_There is one more nearby. I know it's here…somewhere. Hiding. I pace the forest, biding my time. The sight of the forest disgusts me; so much blood, so unnatural. This, the Reapers, none of it should ever have existed._

_I hear a noise. I turn and it strikes me. I have found my prey. We tussle, we dance. It strikes me and I strike it back. I relish the fight, in righting the wrongs of the galaxy. They will be gone soon, and then we can rest._

_No, I must focus. Kill the prey._

_It is dead. It is done._

_I explore the forest some more, there is something…else. I can feel it. I run, I fumble through this hell to find what I am looking for. I find it: a cave that leads to another part of the forest._

_I crawl through and find it's exit. It takes time, but time does not matter here. There are two more here. I feel…unfortunate. They have been trying to protect the forest, but do not realise that they are worthless. The ignorance of the Reapers; fumbling around in the darkness, unable to see the light. I take them by surprise and dispatch of one quickly. I take more time with the other. He is the last for now and I will savour him._

_Now I must go back through the cave and find the entrance to the forest of blood and steel. More Reapers will come and I will kill them. I will redeem myself._

_They are coming._

* * *

"Admiral Hackett, this is all of the footage we could retrieve from the Normandy rescue team."

"Show it" The aging Admiral replied.

The screen ahead of him in his mobile command centre lit up. The image displayed was a vid taken by a camera fitted into the helmet of a member of the team sent to rescue the Normandy. Not that the Admiral had let the news travel far, but all of those who knew of the distress signal sent by the SpecTRe ship almost two days prior had been shaken by it. The Normandy was the Alliance's best ship, it's commanding officer their best marine. If Shepard fell…it was unthinkable.

Hackett recognised the area of the ship that the team were on; he had been there just a few months previously to debrief Shepard in person after the tragic events of the 'Alpha Relay Incident'. The figures on the screen moved forwards and Hackett caught a glimpse of something moving in the background.

"Freeze it. Back up. There! What's that, a survivor?" Hackett asked.

"Of sorts, Admiral. That's Shepard" A member of Hackett's crew – the one who had brought the vid- replied.

"Excellent, she's safe. Where is she?"

"Just keep watching, Admiral" was the only reply.

The footage resumed and the rescue team continued to move along the bridge, apparently not noticing Shepard.

_"What was that? Hello…is someone there?"_ a rescuer on screen asked.

_"Did you see something?" _another chimed in.

_"Yeah, it was…oh shit! Where's Tucson gone? She was right next to me!"_

_"What? Tucso- what the fuck was that?"_

_"Tucson, quick fucking around"_

The voices were then drowned out by screaming. The camera spun and faced the direction of the screams and a monster stepped out of the shadows.

It looked like Shepard…vaguely. It's hair was a bloody mess, it's eyes glowed blue, cracks in the skin on it's cheeks glowed in a mixture of the same brilliant blue and a deep, crimson red. The thing, the monster…it clearly used to be Lieutenant Commander Jane Shepard.

The monster roared, the monster lunged. Blood sp


End file.
